He's no stranger to the ups and downs of the political game and he wasn't about to slip up with comments on the previous day's Fine Gael bloodletting.

In our picture by Frank McGrath, the Taoiseach played the more straightforward version of the game with pupils Rachel McGrane, Majalita Stokes and Taylor Mooney, all aged four, from St Joseph's Primary School in Finglas, Dublin, where he helped to raise an eco-schools green flag.